Bradford, McCoy, Tebow: Insuring Their Future

As freshman are learning at the start of the new school year, and may be what some returning students are recognizing for maybe the first time, college is all about preparing for the future and readying yourself for your potential profession.

For the top three college quarterbacks in the nation, in no specific order, Florida’s Tim Tebow, Oklahoma’s Sam Bradford, and Texas’ Colt McCoy, are already thinking about continuing their careers on Sundays.

Tebow, Bradford, and McCoy have taken out hefty million dollar insurance policies in case of suffering a career-ending injury in their collegiate careers.

This summer, McCoy invested in an insurance policy, ranging anywhere from 3 to 5 million dollars. Tebow took out an estimated 2 million, while it is unknown how much Bradford took out.

The quarterbacks polices is a practice that is allowed under the NCAA. The premiums on the insurance are not paid until after the players ink with an NFL team. These policies are available through the NCAA and independent agencies.

Colt’s father, Brad McCoy, it was a smart endowment for the Longhorn quarterback.

"The premium is astronomical," said Brad McCoy. "But the payback in the event of a catastrophe puts the monetary value there. We felt it was the prudent thing to do."

Tebow didn’t even think about insurance until Gator’s head coach Urban Meyer encouraged the idea.

"How many times does a guy really take advantage of that insurance?" Tebow said. "I have it but that's because he (Gators coach Urban Meyer) made me get it. I didn't even want to go up (get more) or anything with it."

Sam Bradford’s father, Kent Bradford, is an insurance specialist and declined to release any information revolving his son as a client.

“The odds of a kid getting a career-ending injury are slim,” said Kent Bradford. “But if it did happen, and you had the chance to insure, chances are you would feel pretty dumb. You're insuring earnings power."

Professional athletes have taken out permanent-disability insurance policies, guaranteeing themselves a paycheck during a career-ending injury.

The collegiate quarterbacks don’t have any nagging injury to hide, or haven’t lost any confidence from their fans or coaching staff. They are just attempting to secure the future.

After all, according to most NFL mock draft boards, Tebow, Bradford, and McCoy are all expected to be selected by the first round, which guarantees them money and a contract.

You can’t blame after they all turned down entries into last year’s NFL Draft.

However, at the college level, is it too early to be thinking about investing for the future?

Maybe the trios of quarterbacks have nightmares over New England’s quarterback Tom Brady’s painful misfortune during the first week of the NFL season.

But the insurance policy definitely puts out their belief they will be making huge contributions to an NFL team soon.

However, what if they don’t make it to the NFL?

Past Heisman winners – Chris Weinke and Jason White –have had very successful college careers, but tanked in the professional ranks.

If Weinke and White invested in million dollar insurance policy before leaving their college team, they would suffer the consequences. A fantastic career on Saturdays doesn’t necessarily mean the same on Sundays.

The insurance policy is a calculated risk that these players are willing to take at financial risk and may pan out to be new trend among high-profile college athletes.